


Pinned

by Hezikiah



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Meh, it's pretty tame.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2019-01-23 06:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12500792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hezikiah/pseuds/Hezikiah
Summary: Ten takes Donna to a planet to go shopping and her purchase causes some unexpected chaos...





	Pinned

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Basmathgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basmathgirl/gifts).



> This was written as Christmas present for basmathgirl in 2013 with the prompts: origami and an unexpected proposal.

The doors to the TARDIS swung open and the Doctor stepped out into a marketplace on the planet Melibosh. All around him were tented booths and stalls. He grinned in anticipation and stuck his head back into the ship. “Donna! Come on! The bazaar has already started!”

Donna emerged, a sarcastic look on her face. “An arts and crafts bazaar, Doctor? You drag me all the way across time and space to visit a craft fair?”

The Doctor shrugged. “It's almost Christmas back on earth in relative time, Donna. I thought you might want to pick up some nic-nacs to give to Wilf and your mum before we head there for the holidays.”

“Wait just a bleeding moment.” Donna raised a hand. “Are you saying you're taking me shopping? And that you want to spend Christmas with my family, Doctor?”

“Well...” the Doctor frowned and scratched behind one ear. “Yes to the shopping. As for spending the holidays with your family, uh...frankly, no.” He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for her to start berating him.

It never happened. Donna busted into laughter at his response. “Oh, you silly Martian. I don't like spending the holidays with them either. Well, Gramps is all right, but my mother...” She shook her head. “Anyway, thank you. It was a sweet idea to take me gift shopping. We can stay in the TARDIS and just visit during the day, if that's all right with you?”

The Doctor opened one eye and brightened at her suggestion. “Oh, good!” He'd been afraid that Donna would want to stay with her mother and the last thing he wanted was to sleep on Sylvia Noble's lumpy living room sofa.

Donna elbowed him playfully. “Let's go look for silly doohickeys, Doctor.”

“Doohickeys and whatchamacallits, away!” The Doctor took her hand and they headed off through the stalls, stopping to marvel at the craftsmanship of the various and sundry items for sale.

Some of the booths had live demonstrations going on as well. Donna was surprised when the Doctor let out a cry of delight and dragged her over to a large booth in a corner. A craftswoman sat at a wooden trestle table wearing what looked to Donna like a pair of glasses with adjustable camera lenses on them. The woman held a tool that resembled a dentist's pick in one hand and a toothpick in the other. She was working on a piece of shiny metal that was about two inches square. Donna gasped with astonishment when the woman used the pick to carefully fold a corner of the metallic piece. “Micro-origami,” the Doctor whispered. “Won't start until the 25th century when you lot perfect flexible metals. Oh, it's brilliant!”

A row of wooden benches had been placed outside the origami artist's booth and the Doctor crashed down onto one of them, yanking his spectacles from his jacket and shoving them onto his face. He leaned in to watch the craftswoman, fascinated as she bent and folded the tiny metal remnant.

Donna wasn't as impressed, micro-origami or not. Paper folding had left a bad taste in her mouth ever since one of the managers at a firm where she'd temped had asked her to fold a thousand cranes for his daughter. Donna had no patience for origami and had quit after it took her an hour to make just one crane. She had dumped the single paper bird on the manager's desk with some suggestions as to where he could cram it and the other nine hundred and ninety-nine birds. Not surprisingly, she'd been reassigned the next day.

She left the Doctor and wandered around the corner to a plaza filled with jewelry sellers. Her mum had a taste for tacky jewelry and Donna resolved to find Sylvia the most garish piece of space jewelry sold on the planet. She perused several stalls and started to get discouraged when she realized that the styles of this world tended towards subdued and simple designs.

Donna was about to give up when she spotted a young woman crossing the plaza. Something about the woman's stride made Donna pause and watch. Everyone else in the busy crowd seemed to have the same idea as Donna and all eyes were on the solitary woman. She marched up to a group of young men standing in the middle of the plaza. There was something in her hand. Donna watched with amusement as the woman grabbed one of the men by the lapels of his shirt and affixed a colorful pin to the man's front. The man looked stunned for a moment and then broke into a huge grin. He looked around at the crowd, who pressed in a little closer and watched with eager eyes. The man turned back to the woman, who was silent and waiting. He took her hand and kissed her as his friends erupted into cheers and the crowd followed suit. Even Donna found herself hollering and applauding and she didn't know why.

The crowd disbursed and the man left his friends to stroll the rest of the way across the plaza with the woman. As they approached her, Donna got a closer look at the pin. It was made of at least six different colored rhinestones set in a pattern that looked like a triple helix. Donna knew that Sylvia would love a pin like that and she stopped the couple as they passed her. “Excuse me, but I love your pin. May I ask where you got it from?”

The couple looked a little surprised at her question, but then they exchanged knowing glances and the woman pointed to a booth on the other side of the plaza. “Over there, miss.”

“Thanks!”

Donna crossed the plaza and found the booth. She was disappointed to find that all of the pins on display were the same design, the triple helix made from multicolored gem stones. Oh well. It must be a fad here, but it would be unique on earth. Donna knew her mum would be pleased when she told her that there wasn't another like it on the planet. She bought one of the pins and pocketed it. A few of the other shoppers who'd seen her buy the pin watched her with anticipation as she moved back through the crowd. Donna noticed their weird looks and stares and her footsteps quickened to get back to the Doctor.

She found him still sitting on the bench and she plopped down next to the Doctor. “Oh, hello! Where'd you get off to?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the craftswoman.

“Found a present for mum.” Donna brought the pin out. “Isn't it just gaudy? Might be just the thing for that boring old coat of yours.” Donna affixed it to the lapel of his brown duster.

“Oh? I'll bet it's positively hideous...argh!” the Doctor screamed as he looked down and saw the pin. He frantically tried to cover it up with his hands, but it was too late. The other shoppers had seen what Donna had done and the crowd fell silent, exactly like what Donna had observed only moments before.

The Doctor looked around at the waiting crowd, then back at the confused Donna. His eyes were wide with shock. “You have no idea what you've just done, have you?” he hissed.

“What are you nattering on about, Doctor?” Donna also glanced around at the crowd. “And what's gotten into them?”

“Well, man?” someone in the crowd yelled. “Go on!”

The Doctor jumped and Donna wondered why he was so nervous all of a sudden. “Donna,” he said slowly. “This is one of those times when I need you to just shut up and follow my lead, ok?” She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. “Ok?!”

Donna shrugged. “Fine, ok. Barmy Spacema--”

She was cut off when he grabbed her face and kissed her passionately. Their audience erupted into cheers and clapping. Donna was too surprised to slap him and besides, she'd agreed to follow his lead. The Doctor came up for air, flashed a grin at the crowd, and stood up. He tugged Donna with him and marched off for the TARDIS, practically dragging her behind him. Donna could tell he was furious. “Would you please stop?!” she complained. “What has gotten into you, kissing me like that?”

The Doctor stopped and whirled to face her. A group of law enforcement officers nearby stopped to watch them. The Doctor smiled at them and then muttered, “Donna, smile and and look like the happy bride you are.”

“Bride?!”

“Bride. You're my wife now.”

Donna's jaw hit the ground. “What?!”

One of the policemen approached them. “Is everything all right, sir?” he asked. Donna saw that his hand was on a whip...wait, a whip? Who the heck carried whips? This planet seemed more and more messed up the longer they stayed there. Donna felt an overwhelming urge to get back to the safety of the TARDIS.

“Everything's peachy, officer!” she chirped, smiling a little too broadly. “Me and um...”

“Her most happy groom,” the Doctor finished. “We were just off to consummate the marriage, according to tradition!”

The policeman didn't seem to be convinced. “Do you require an escort to the matrimonial chambers, sir? Perhaps a witness?”

“What? No! No no no!” the Doctor squeaked.

“Then may your union be blessed with many children, sir.”

“Yeah...uh, thanks.” The Doctor scurried for the nearby TARDIS, Donna right behind him. He unlocked the door and they both ran inside. Donna slammed the door after her and they erupted at each other at the same time.

“What the hell do you mean married?!” she screamed.

“Why did you go and do a stupid thing like that for?” the Doctor hollered.

They glared at each other, daring the other person to speak first. Neither was willing to do so, true to their similar stubborn natures. The Doctor took a deep breath, trying to calm down. The danger had passed. Donna hadn't known what she was doing. No one was hurt. Not taking his eyes off her, he removed the pin from his lapel and held it out to her.

Donna took it from him, shaking her head. “I don't understand.” Her voice was quieter, with still an edge of irritation. “We never even said 'I do.'”

The Doctor sighed, pulled his duster off, and threw it over a nearby coral strut before striding up the ramp. “You did when you pinned that on me and I kissed you. Not all wedding rituals are the same as the ones on earth, Donna.” He started moving around the console, flipping switches and dials to send them into the vortex. “On Melibosh, weddings are a rather curt and frankly medieval affair. There is no courting. A woman chooses very carefully the man she wants to mate with and she publicly affixes him with that pin. The man must immediately decide whether to marry the woman by either kissing her to accept or handing the pin back to her to decline.”

Donna's eyes went round in shock. “And you accepted.”

The Doctor stopped dancing around the console long enough to fix her with a serious look. “Because I wasn't about to watch you get flogged in public, Donna. You saw the whips the law enforcement officers were carrying.”

She leaned back against the railing, suddenly feeling sick. “F-flogged.”

“If the man declines, the woman is publicly shamed for her poor choice. You saw how the crowd reacted when you pinned me. They would have dragged you out for a whipping if I'd given that pin back. I chose to accept and head back here to supposedly consummate the marriage, as is expected within thirty minutes of acceptance or both bride and groom are flogged for failure to uphold their marriage agreement.”

“Blimey. So is that why the police officer offered to escort us? And watch?”

“Yes. It's not uncommon to ask for a witness to the consummation, just to avoid any accidental whippings. He was trying to do us a favor.”

“And here I thought he was just being pervy.” Donna pushed away from the railing and staggered for the jump seat, crashing down into it. “Doctor, I am so sorry.”

“It's not your fault, Donna. You didn't know. No harm done, really.”

There was a long, awkward silence between them until Donna let out a short laugh. “So we're married now?”

The Doctor wasn't laughing, though. “I don't know. I suppose it's how you look at it, but I'm leaning towards no since we were married on Melibosh and we didn't consummate the marriage and I gave you the pin back. We didn't follow their traditions. Besides, Donna...'just mates,' remember?”

“I remember, Spaceman.” She shook her head. “What is it with us and weddings, anyway?”

“Don't know, Donna. It's almost like the universe is trying to tell us something.”

There was another long, uncomfortable silence as the two of them stared at each other, a new understanding dawning in their eyes. The Doctor was the first to break it off, clearing his throat. “Yes, well, you know those weird coincidences. Universe is full of them. Anyway, I've set coordinates for earth. Just in time for the holidays, Donna. Oh! That reminds me!” He scurried down the ramp to rummage around in the pocket of his duster and pulled out a small green box.

“Happy Christmas” The Doctor handed her the box. “I got this while you were wandering around.”

“But I didn't give you anything!” She started to open the lid.

He chuckled. “Oh, yes, you did. You nearly gave me a dual heart attack with that unexpected marriage proposal.”

“Don't remind me. I'll get you something on earth,” she promised. The lid popped off and Donna saw a tiny origami crane pendant on a delicate chain. “Oh.”

The Doctor's face fell when he didn't see the reaction he'd expected. “What's the matter? Don't you like it?”

She pressed her lips together before answering him. “It's not that. I appreciate the thought, Doctor. It's just...I had a bad experience trying to make these cranes once.”

“Oh, I see. Yes, they can be rather tedious to make.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I'm curious, though. Do you know what the crane stands for?”

“No.”

“The belief is that receiving a crane grants you a wish that will most certainly come true. In the past, it was one thousand paper cranes. In the future, it's a single metallic one based on the time and energy it takes to complete them. So, I've granted you one wish.” He lifted the tiny crane from the box and it winked and flashed in the light as it dangled from his finger. “Would you like for me to put it on you?” Donna nodded and he slid the chain around her throat. She held her breath as his fingers brushed her hair aside and against the sensitive skin on the back of her beck as he fastened the necklace. The Doctor stepped back and admired the silver crane as it nestled right above her cleavage. “Very nice, if I may so, my not-wife.”

“Thanks, my not-husband.”

He nodded and looked up as the ship started going through the landing cycle and the time rotor slowed to a halt. “Here we are! Come on, then!” The Doctor bounced over to his duster. Donna's hand slid into her pocket where the troublesome pin was tucked. Her fingers closed around it as her other hand touched the miniature crane hanging around her neck. As Donna watched her Doctor pull on his coat, she made a silent wish and that she hoped would come true.


End file.
